Jodrell Bank Telescope 'Plays the Universe'

17th July 2007

On 3rd August 2007, Jodrell Bank Observatory will be hosting a
unique spectacle. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations
of the Lovell radio Telescope, a specially-commissioned musical
composition will be performed, during which the Telescope will
literally be 'playing the universe'.

The event celebrates the Lovell Telescope as a functional
instrument for measuring space and time and as a striking
sculptural object situated within a landscape. The music has
been composed by Jem Finer and Ansuman Biswas. Finer,
an artist and musician working in a diverse range of fields including
music, film, performance, sculpture, installation and photography,
has previously received critical acclaim for
his 'Longplayer' composition, a computer-generated piece
designed to last for one thousand years. Biswas has an
international artistic practice ranging across live art, music,
film, theatre and writing and is best known for 'CAT', a
comparative study of quantum physics and yogic
philosophy. The piece to be performed at Jodrell Bank is a
remarkable collaboration between recognized artists and radio
astronomers at the University of Manchester's world-famous
observatory.

The weekend of 3rd-5th August sees Jodrell Bank Observatory
hosting the 'First Light Festival', marking the golden jubilee
of the first observations with the Lovell Telescope. In
astronomy, 'First Light' refers to the first signals that are
collected by a new telescope, but in observational astronomy
'First Light' refers to that moment in the evolution of the
universe when it had cooled sufficiently to allow light to pass
unhindered.

Finer described the audio artwork as 'part of a long continuum'.
'For millennia,' he said, 'people have stood in this place
contemplating the star-filled skies above. Jodrell Bank is now a
meeting point where invisible signals arriving from the depths
of the universe can be seen and heard'.

The 'First Light Festival' at Jodrell Bank uses the 50th
anniversary of the first observations with the Lovell Telescope
as an opportunity to showcase the observational techniques of
modern astrophysics. Dr Tim O'Brien, Head of Outreach at Jodrell
Bank said 'this whole weekend is about the Telescope, the
engineering that allows it to probe the universe and the
fundamental science it enables. We're very excited about using
it in a live musical creation.'

Finer and Biswas, along with Jodrell Bank astronomers, will use
the Lovell Telescope itself as a live musical instrument and
physical focus. Choreographed to track a number of celestial
objects, as it turns and tilts it will relay a live stream of
radio data while microphones attached to its structure will
amplify the sounds of its motion.

Pre-recorded musical sources will form the basis of an
hour-long semi-improvised composition, responding and
interweaving with the sounds of the Telescope. By relegating the
'performers' to the background, to the mixing of the different
streams of sound, the Telescope itself takes centre stage, drawing
a direct link between the Telescope and its terrestrial location
and the universe's deep expanses of space and time. In a
breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime event, the performers will
create a unique composition in which the Telescope literally
'plays the universe'.

The Telescope will also be illuminated from multiple angles, its
movement creating a complex interplay of shadows and light, growing
in intensity over the duration of the performance. The sole focus
of the performance will be the Telescope and its awe-inspiring
engineering and capabilities. The girders, beams, supports and
tracks built by British engineers over 50 years ago still stand,
still work 24 hours a day, probing the furthest reaches of the
cosmos. This one-off event now gives the Telescope a unique voice
on the void above.

This event is produced by a collaboration between the artists and
the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, through
funds allocated by the Royal Academy of Engineering 'Ingenious'
grants programme, the Science & Technology Facilities Council and
the Arts Council England.

Editors Notes

The Lovell Telescope. The Lovell radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank
became operational in October 1957 and its very first use was to
track the carrier rocket that launched Sputnik 1, the world's first
artificial satellite. Hence, the Telescope's golden jubilee also
marks fifty years of the Space Age. Jodrell Bank was heavily
involved in the early exploration of space, tracking both US and
Russian space probes. In fact, the Telescope received the very
first pictures transmitted from the far side of the Moon in 1959,
and the first pictures from the surface of the Moon in 1966. The
University of Manchester is hosting numerous events throughout
2007 to celebrate this golden jubilee. The existing 50th
anniversary programme involves a series of educational and
cultural events that will use the celebration as a springboard to
look to the future of engineering and science in the UK. See
www.manchester.ac.uk/jodrellbank.

Royal Academy of Engineering. The Royal Academy of Engineering
'Ingenious' grants programme, funded by the Office of Science and
Innovation within the DTI, offers funding to promote open debate
and dialogue between citizens and engineers on engineering issues
of public interest and concern. See
www.raeng.org.uk

Bookings. Tickets for this event (Friday 3rd August 2007) and
the 'First Light Festival' itself are available from the Jodrell Bank
Visitor Centre (tel. 01477 571339) or Jodrell Bank Observatory (tel.
01477 571321).